Financial methods

Financial methods

Top tips for how to multiply your money. For those who want to adopt a more cautious approach and don’t want all of their money going into the stock market, Patrick Connolly, a certified financial planner at Chase de Vere, rates Investec Cautious Managed fund. This fund spreads risks by investing into other asset classes alongside shares, such as government bonds, gold and cash. Mr Modray says the Vanguard LifeStrategy* range of funds offer a cheap and convenient way of investing your money across global stock markets and fixed-interest investments such as government and corporate bonds. There are five options, ranging from 20% stock market exposure to 100%, so they should suit most needs.

While large short-term profits can often entice market neophytes, long-term investing is essential to greater success. And while active trading short-term trading can make money, this involves greater risk than buy-and-hold strategies. Many great companies are household names, but many good investments lack brand awareness. Furthermore, thousands of smaller companies have the potential to become the blue-chip names of tomorrow. In fact, small-caps stocks have historically shown greater returns than their large-cap counterparts. From 1926 to 2001, small-cap stocks in the U.S. returned an average of 12.27% while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) returned 10.53%. This is not to suggest that you should devote your entire portfolio to small-cap stocks. But there are many great companies beyond those in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).

Properly managing your credit is one of the most critical responsibilities of the financially responsible individuals. Your credit score plays a major role in your financial life. Your credit score determines whether you are approved or declined for major purchases such as buying home, car, or receiving approval for a credit card. Your credit score will also impact the interest rate that you receive on your major purchases. While buying a car at a 0 percent interest rate for 5 years can be a wise financial decision, paying for the same car at an 18 percent interest rate is a poor financial decision. See extra details on How to build a good credit score.

Not many small investors begin their investment journey with US Treasury securities, but you can. You’ll never get rich with these securities, but it is an excellent place to park your money—and earn some interest—until you are ready to go into higher risk/higher return investments. Treasury securities, also known as savings bonds, are easy to buy through the US Treasury’s bond portal Treasury Direct. There you can buy fixed-income US government securities with maturities of anywhere from 30 days to 30 years in denominations as low as $100. You can also use Treasury Direct to buy Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS. These not only pay interest, but they also make periodic principal adjustments to account for inflation based on changes in the consumer price index.

Imagine you’re buying an ownership stake in the convenience store around the corner from your house. Automatically you’ll think about the competition, suppliers, prices, etc. You’ll have to think both about the specific location as well as its competitive position in the market. Similarly, while buying stocks, you need to think about all these things – just as the people running the business do. When you buy a stock, you’re not just buying a piece of paper or a ticker symbol. Buying the stock of a company is buying an ownership stake in a BUSINESS.

About MultiplyMyMoney : I have more than 12 years of experience as an independent and personal financial and investment consultant. I used to run a financial blog called BuylikeBuffett which provided insight on investing, saving, money management, and all things finance. I am also the author of Your Financial Playbook: A Guide To Navigating The World Of Personal Finance a financial guide written to inform the beginning investor about the basics of the market. I decided to start a new site because I receive a great number of questions about financial topics on a daily basis. I figure that this would be a great way to answer those questions and increase financial literacy. I also figured it would be a good platform to write articles on everything from teaching how to get rich, explaining the basics of cryptocurrency, to detailing ways of rebuilding your credit score. I was the founder and president of New Horizons Financial Management, LLC, and was a registered investment advisor. New Horizons was an independent investment advisory asset management and personal financial consulting firm offering investment advisory services to high net worth individuals. See more info on Multiply My Money.